In the last few months we have seen a ton of New Bashers join the KB3D community! Not only are these New Bashers new to kitbashing, but some of them are brand new to 3D in general. We are continually inspired by the KB3D community and how they help each other out on our Discord Channel, Facebook Group, or across Instagram where artists of all skill levels can interact. For this article, we wanted to reach out to a couple of our New Bashers and learn more about their paths and processes.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please meet our first New Basher, Martijn van Oers...
Martijn, what were you doing before you found out about KB3D?
I had been doing photography as a hobby for over 15 years, but late 2017 felt I wasn't getting any creative energy from it anymore. Every "creative dip" I encountered became deeper and harder to get out of, so I decided to put the camera down, since I was putting more energy into my hobby than I was getting from it. During that time I switched jobs and part of my new job was attending creative festivals, where I got to meet and listen to some of the biggest names from the concept art, video game design, animation, and VFX industries. I had lived over 15 years thinking photographers were the creative geniuses of this world, but boy was I wrong. I witnessed people creating worlds, or characters, from scratch: starting off with a blank screen and actually creating the most amazing things using 3d software. Super inspiring to see, but I thought this skill would take decades to develop.
And then, out of nowhere, a sponsored Facebook post by KitBash3d caught my eye, which made me do a little happy dance: these kit would allow me to start a new creative journey and offer me the chance to do what I loved about photography: tell stories. The company I work for was kind enough to supply me with a Cinema4D license and I started spending countless hours following online tutorials, following what the person in the video was doing, step by step, slowly building a skill set that allowed me to at least get some renders out. David Ariew and Josh Pierce tutorials have been extremely helpful in my quest to learn this skill.
Also, looking into amazing work by others, like Cornelius Dämmrich, has really helped me learn on both the technical, as well as the creative part of CGI. Last, but not least, I have been lucky enough to have my close friend and CGI-master Wieger Poutsma mentor me from the sideline and guide me in the right direction. I started 8 months ago with no knowledge whatsoever about 3d / CGI and I am now at a stage where I'm starting to feel pretty proud of my renders. The journey of learning 3D has been an extremely enjoyable one, even though it's been the steepest learning curve I have ever encountered. So KitBash3D, you are fully responsible for refueling my creative brain and using your kits has been such an amazing experience!
Now that you have put down your camera, what is your process capturing an image?
My process today starts with opening one of your kits ( I own Dark Fantasy and Post Apocalypse Mini-Kit), moving around some assets, adding lights, fog and an HDRI sky in Octane render and then basically "walking around" until I see something I like: pretty much getting inspired by the assets of the kits, while moving them around. I then end up building a scene around something interesting I find. I haven't started learning 3d modeling yet, so having high quality, themed 3d models at just a few clicks away is pretty awesome and a relatively fast way for me to create something. After rendering I always end up color grading and adding little (or big) things inside Photoshop.
How has creating in 3D transformed your art?
I guess it's my yoga. Creating scenes, telling visual stories, for me allows me to step away from everyday life to find myself wandering through a medieval forest on a foggy morning in spring. The fact that I'm interested in creating gloomy scenes is maybe because I have a dark side, which I can't really show in everyday life, who knows :)
And now on to our next New Basher, Mason Quiban...
Mason, you recently posted a clip that you made with our Cyberpunk Mini Kit and you mentioned that you were just starting out. How long have you been using 3D software and KB3D Kits in that workflow?
I started using Blender in October 2019 and have been hooked ever since, but I have only been using KitBash3d assets for a few months now. What I love most about them is that they allow me to speed up my workflow and create the scenes I want.
Wow, you are really new to 3D! Do you have a specific approach to your projects?
My process before starting a project is usually scouring the Internet for inspiration. Depending of what I find and what type of mood I'm in, I’ll usually just dive into a new project. Most of the time, I go in blind not knowing what the outcome will be. That approach for me is the most exciting way to go about my art.
Mason's work with the Ancient Temples Kit
Mason's work with the Sci-Fi Industrial Kit
For my cyberpunk animation, I first started out by building up a small street scene, using the Cyberpunk mini-kit, to the camera’s perspective. It was originally going to be a still image, but I really felt that it needed to be animated. I then added the basic animation of the car flying down to really give life to the scene. After that, I added more detail into the foreground and the background to sort of fill in the rest of the reality to make it all mesh together.
Mason, we can't wait to see what you'll make 3 months from now! Your growth trajectory is incredible!
And now, for our final New Basher, Luis Koeferler.
Luis, where did your 3D journey begin?
My whole journey in 3d started a while ago. I created YouTube banners for some small channels and stuff like that. Then I stopped using Cinema4d and did other stuff. In December 2017 I watched a Tutorial from Greyscalegorilla on how to create a Jelly fish scene and I tried to recreate this as closely as possible. This was basically my start In the 3d Community. I created my Insta account “Luis.4d” and did daily renders using Cinema4d and the internal physical renderer. At the time I was working with a MacBook Air, so I wasn’t actually able to use Octane. After I did some renders with the physical renderer I learned how to use Arnold.
This was also the time when I used KitBash3d for the first time. I downloaded a sample kit from your site and it was absolutely amazing. My goal was to be featured on your Instagram page and this happened soon after! I tried hard to improve my skills and get better and better. After a while, I was able to buy a PC with an Nvidia GPU and so I started learning Octane. I was able to do a lot more renders and learned new things very fast.
I recently had a musician contact me named Field Dvy, and wanted me to make a full CG music video for him. Your Kits were absolutely amazing for this purpose and helped me a lot.
What do you usually do to prepare for a project?
Normally I search for good inspiration on Instagram, movies or books before I start a new project. Then I open the kits which I want to use and start playing with them. Often I use octane scatter to create big city scenes, or I just create a beautiful environment and put some awesome looking KitBash3d buildings in it.
And why do you make art?
I create art, because I love to create a world that is in my head. It’s kinda relaxing to sit in front of your PC and just start creating.
Luis's Demo Reel featuring several KB3D kits:
LUIS KOEFERLER DEMOREEL 2019 from Luis Koeferler on Vimeo.
If you want more from our Featured New Bashers, be sure to follow them on Instagram:
Martijn Van Oers's Instagram
Mason Quiban's Instagram
Luis Koeferler's Instagram
